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May 1705 (7)
= La Gloire du Roi - May 1705 = Weather this month *Becalmed in the Baltic Sea, Mediterranean (Levant), and the Caspian Sea. *Storms in India and the Far South. Events Of Importte Pertaining To Recent Matters Kassel *The 6th Imperial Army under General Graf von Mercy, of 10 Hungarian light foot battalions and a squadron of hussars, has been allowed into the city of Kassel. Staines *A predominantly French field army under the Duke of Berwick and Marshal Boufflers marching from Reading to London reached the limits of the City of London Corporation's jurisdiction north-west of Staines in the Thames valley. Here they encountered an English field army commanded by the Duke of Marlborough, the presence of which compelled them to deploy for battle. The French forces number 77 infantry battalions and 100 horse squadrons, as well as engineer detachments and a siege trayne. They deployed with their right wing resting on the bank of the Thames and in two lines, with the infantry flanked by cavalry. The line has the Colne River some way out in front. Marlborough's field army of 69 foot battalions, 96 horse squadrons, and 27 field batteries, which also has engineers and siege guns with it, deployed on the other side of the Colne facing east toward the French. Having taken a look at the Colne it became apparent to him that it may be too deep for a frontal assault, but he employed his artillery to cannonade the French lines from behind the safety of this river at points where undergrowth lining the river banks allowed this. The fire was mainly concentrated against the French infantry. Boufflers ordered the light battalion pieces with his infantry to shoot back, not so much in expectation of doing any damage to the English but in order to maintain the morale of his own troops. Poole *Poole has declared for King James II and the Jacobite cause! Oran *Colonel Andrés de Pez y Malzarraga, Commander-in-chief Spanish land forces in Africa, looked quite tired as he inspected the troops paraded outside of the royal army camp at Oran. The 1st and 2nd Royal African battalions looked reasonable enough, but La Compañía de Portobello’s Spanish Foreign Legion were shoddily turned out despite their proudly smiling faces and general alertness, and strangely enough the men and officers of the Headquarters platoon were the worse turned out of the lot! Also far from impeccable were the soldiers of O'Donnell's Brigade whose lines were kinked all over the place and who weren't well dressed nor showing any signs of discipline or respect for their officers. When their officers did tell them to get into a line they did so wearily and with no great urgency. Malzarraga appeared shaken upon inspecting them, and was seen leaving the parade with a downcast expression and shaking his head in disbelief! "Pray God noone acts against Oran," he was heard to say! Dresden *General Boris Sheremetev has spoken to Baron Wilhelm von Baden, the chancellor of the Elector of Saxony. “Russia has regrettably declared war on Austria however we do not wish this dispute to spread to our friends within the Empire. We pledge to not attack or fire upon Saxon military forces and seek a reciprocal promise. As the Prussians have also been reminded of late, Russia stood firmly by your nations in the past against Austria, and hopes you will be kind to us now?” Berlin *Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau, Regent of Prussia has given assurances that the Prussian military intends to keep out of the Austro-Russian War, in part because ‘the army has its hands full dealing with the rebellion in the county of Cleves’, but also on account of a sense of disapproval over the Saxon Affair. He did say that he would advise Russian armies not to venture into Bohemia or Austria proper, but to restrict its invasion plans to Hungary and Transylvania, otherwise ‘Prussia may be obliged as a member of the Holy Roman Empire as a matter of honour to send succour to the Emperor.’ In other words, if Russian armies entered territory deemed to be within the Empire itself, which he believes does not cover Hungary and Transylvania, then Prussia may have to take up arms in a limited manner by sending contingents to the Imperial Reichsarmee, so the agreement to not take up arms only covers fighting outside the Empire’s boundaries. Count Franz von Papen then spoke directly to Count von Salzburg of Austria, “Count, please convey to the Emperor our great hope that he will allow the King of France a facesaving way of coming to terms. At the moment King Louis is hedged-in by enemies, giving him no honourable course other than to fight. Please come up with a formula to allow His Most Christian Majesty to agree a peace with honour, or we fear the spread of the conflict may get even worse as is clearly happening with Russia’s intervention.” Venice *Don Francisco de Garay has given Doge Francesco Morosini II a copy of the Oath of the League of St. George signed and sealed by the King of Spain and mounted in an exquisite frame of ivory and gold. Amsterdam *Stories are circulating in Amsterdam that the dreaded ‘sea beggars’ are going to set sail once again for loot, and for the House of Orange and to save the Netherlands and the Protestant faith from Bourbon tyranny! Rheinberg *General von Steinmetz has marched the Grand Armee of Prussia into Rheinberg without meeting any opposition, and has caught the leading rebel Herr Gretchman, who is a merchant originally from Berlin. Gretchman was hung as a traitor out of hand, and Rheinberg has been restored to the rule of the House of Brandenburg without a shot being fired. Steinmetz seems disappointed since he was looking forward to earning some glory for his family at the head of this army! Zurich *Karl Anton Am Rhyn has explained that the money received from Spain had been allocated to paying for the ten infantry battalions hired to Spain’s service since June 1704. This has now been used to release seven infantry battalions to the service of Austria, in line with Spain’s wishes, ‘which will happen shortly’. This does now mean that for those battalions in Spanish service 200,000 guineas must be paid by August 1705 to retain their service. Besancon *North-east of Besancon in the encampment of the 5th Army, General von Bagni has recovered from his wounds. In the French encampment opposite Bagni’s position cheers were heard for no less a person of renown than Louis XIV, the King, who had arrived after narrowly avoiding capture at the hands of the Prince of Vaudemont’s cuirassiers en route! His coach was chased down for some miles until his coach driver lost the pursuers in a wood. Now safely with his field forces, His Most Christian Majesty listened to the concerns of both officers and men, especially those of the Regiment de Nattancourt. The moment of the King’s arrival was captured for posterity by the painter Nicholas de Largillière. At Besancon proper the French have abandoned the covered way they had captured and have lifted the siege, marching away to Heaven knows where (well, the Austrians don’t know where they have gone, or so it seems!). Back over to the north-east, from Louis XIV’s encampments, one night French infantry moved forward toward the Austrian lines in the field, dropped a large number of fascines into the marshy stream to their front, and went in directly against the Austrian fieldworks with bayonets fixed. To their astonishment they found them to be deserted! Where is the 5th Army and Bagni? Not where they had been expected, that much is for sure. Over the next few days the painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry produced a work showing French standards triumphantly planted on vacated Austrian field works before Besancon (Msr. Oudry is currently working as an apprentice to De Largillière). It seems as if both sides are having trouble accurately assessing where their enemy have gone, but one thing is certain - the flag of Austria still flutters over Besancon, and the French cannot see any such sign of an Austrian presence beyond the walls now, except there is a separate citadel on a tall sheer-sided hill to the north of Besancon on the approach route between the French army and the city and this appears to also be in Austrian hands. Kumasi *Colonel Umberto Galileo, with the permission of the Asanthene, has visited the nine battalions of his guards, the Stool Guardians, who he was pleased to see have been issued with Beech Mill Land Pattern muskets. At the urging of the Guardians’ officers the Colonel and his fellow instructors have started to drill the troops in the proper use of these firearms to ensure their proficiency in arms. Regensburg *At the Imperial Diet a vote has been requested by Graf von Schonborn on the following issue: “Should Russian forces or Russian sponsored forces enter the Empire then Imperial forces should be raised by the Imperial Circles. The total contribution would be 30,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 1,000 artillerymen. All to be appropriately equipped. Contributions can be made as recruits, money or raised units. Command to be given to the Reichsmarshall Prince Maximillian of Bavaria in the first instance should he choose to accept. Should he decline then command to be given to either Saxony, Prussia, the Spanish Netherlands or Charles XII of Sweden as an Imperial prince, as determined by a vote of the Imperial Diet. The Imperial Diet is asked to vote in favour of this proposal.” The French jurist Chevalier Charles Ancillon immediately raised an objection which, while some may argue he should not have done, nevertheless he did and it was taken seriously. He pointed out that the motion could not be voted on in its present form since it on the one hand demanded the men contributed must be ‘appropriately equipped’ and then goes on to say recruits or money may be provided instead. “This is an oxymoron, two opposites cannot logically be allowed for when they stand in complete contradiction to each other,” he said. The Speaker upheld his objection and has asked Von Schonborn to be so good as to redraft the proposition and put it before the Reichstag again. The feeling in the Reichstag (the Imperial Diet) is that it would be legitimate to call for troops to be raised, but not contributions of recruits or money. Furthermore it seems to be the majority opinion here that the contingents to be provided by each principality will need to be outlined in order for the motion to make any substantive sense rather than just giving the totals to be raised. True, the totals only could be given as they have been but it is highly likely this will lead to arguments between princes and therefore such a total is quite likely never to be called to arms in reality. Leopold Ignaz, Furst von Dietrichstein who is the Emperor’s jurist at the Diet looked somewhat annoyed at the veritable hornet’s nest his rival Ancillon had managed to create. He however addressed the gentlemen to say that the Emperor is willing to cover the cost of all the troops contributed by the princes for this Imperial Army by refunding them both raising costs and upkeep costs. He further confirmed that the Emperor has ratified the Diet’s decisions of last month. This was considered by many present to be a masterful and timely counter-stroke, but the Speaker is still insisting on clarification and has asked Graf von Schonborn to include Leopold Ignaz’s assertions in the text of the motion to be voted on to avoid later confusion. Geneva *Some French passengers who were taken by privateers to Genoa have been released by their captors and sent to Geneva in the north in preparation for being repatriated to France. Versailles *Colbert, the King of France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs has announced that La Buse has failed to protect French shipping in the Caribbean, and consequently his contract (which expired) will not be renewed, effective immediately. There has been panic amongst courtiers at Versailles, many of whom took to their coaches and fled to Paris on the news that a Reichsarmee cuirassier brigade of 26 squadrons had reached the southern outskirts of Versailles! In fact the cuirassiers really are to the south, but no attempt has been made to push into the town or indeed the palace. Lisbon *The Royal Bank of Africa has opened a branch office in Lisbon. Munich *The Empress Eleonor Magdalene has presented her daughter Maria Anna Joseph to Prince Maximillian who found her to be properly respectful and well brought up, in fact a great credit to her family. Barcelona *King Charles III of Spain has presided over the opening of a session of the Cortez of Catalonia with a ball for the nobility followed by a fiesta and a bull fight. His Most Catholic Majesty then went on a royal progress from Barcelona to Valencia where the Cortez of Valencia has been summoned to sit in session next month. It was His Majesty’s pleasure, given the expansion of the Spanish military, to give many nobles good news about sons and nephews gaining regimental appointments following graduation. Calais & Barcelona *Several hundred French merchant sailors,using ship’s boats have rowed into Calais where they told how their ships had been taken by privateers using Austrian Letters of Marque, although the privateers did have the decency to put them into these boats with sufficient food and water to get them to shore, and also provided them with a compass to help them on their way. A similar thing is reported to have happened at Barcelona where some French sailors made it to shore by rowing after losing their ships which had been adrift when the winds dropped in local waters. Unfortunately for them privateers using galleys took advantage of the situation to row over and seize their ships. People being Much Admired by the Best in Société *Austria *Shantung China *Moldavia *Spain *Russia *Persia *Honourable West India Company *Maharatas *Bavaria *Jacobites Shipping Lists: Being a Reporte on Knowne Shipping Movements *Two French trade ships have been lost in the Bay of Biscay and ten such vessels in the Adriatic, two in the North Sea, six in the Mediterranean, and nine in the West Indies. Lloyds Lists: Being a Reporte on Knowne Shipping Losses from Causes Unknowne or Knowne *None. Ambassadorial Appointments *Sent by Genoa to Venice, Paulo Alavaseno. *Sent by Spain to Poland, Don Antonio Lopez; to Sweden, Don Eugenio Gentilini; and to Lorraine, Don Francesco di Giorgio. *The Moldavian ambassador to England has been recalled to Jassy, and the embassy closed on the orders of the Prince of Moldavia, apparently in accordance with English wishes. Trade Missions Opened *By Genoa in Venice. *By Moldavia in Constantinople. Automatically parsed by LGDRParser v1.0 Game 7 Category:Game 7